How Canada Enhances US Defense Capabilities

A policy that's all about flexing and getting those gains from ASEAN-US cooperation would totally shut down any divide-and-conquer moves, ya feel me?

that wanna go all in on integration, and (2) a lit track that makes sure ASEAN gets mad support and all the members get hella benefits. The deep track includes formal trade agreements like the TPP, fam. Four member states are flexin' in the current negotiations, with Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand potentially joinin' them in the near future. Simulations suggest that these countries would lowkey flex from membership. But like, the simulations also show some low-key trade diversion with other ASEAN members, ya know? These side effects need some serious coin from the

Peter A. Petri and Michael G. Plummer, but make it Peter A. Petri and Michael G. Plummer, ya know?

United States (thru the lit track discussed below) and from the ASEAN economies vibin' related perks to engineer a Kemp-Wan outcome.The whole vibe of the track is like way more diverse and chill support, you know? So like, it's been all about tech and other ways we can work together and level up. Specific initiatives have been all about giving advice and building up the ASEAN Secretariat, helping out with trade stuff and the ASEAN Single Window, and giving tips on making rules better. The United States has totally leveled up these efforts, and potential projects include other integration-related goals, like connectivity and infrastructure development, as well as educational and cultural vibes. These policies are a vibe for the region's less-developed homies and save mad cash for international firms doing their thing in regional markets. An especially lit example is provided by US support for economic reform in Vietnam. After Vietnam flexed its doi moi program and dipped out of Cambodia, the United States was like, "Let's be friends" and, with the World Bank, was all about boosting Vietnamese reform. Eventually, it was like, "Yo, we out here with the US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), which started poppin' in December 2001." 

The availability of external integration options (like the TPP) doesn't mean that every ASEAN member, even among those ready, gotta be all up in that. 

Most members will have hella good economic reasons to do so, and the benefit/cost ratios will rise even more as the TPP expands to include more ASEAN and other mem- bers. However, for domestic or international political reasons, some ASEAN countries may decide not to vibe with those ties, ya know? OMG, like for realz, recognizing that these are like major, nation-wide decisions will totally minimize tensions within the region itself.  The two-speed approach is like, super cool for organizing how we engage with certain countries, ya know? It's all about promoting the interests of all ASEAN members, which is totally rad. This is not just, or even mostly, the responsibility of outside partners; it's a major ASEAN goal cuz integration is super important to the region itself. Like, for real, calibrating the tracks is gonna be hella challenging. The lit track should be stacked with enough resources so that its perks cancel out the negative vibes, both economic and political, for countries left out. The Asia-Pacific region is like totally taking over in US policy, thanks to the pivot/rebalancing strategy started by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It's lit! OMG, like, Secretary of State John Kerry just spilled the tea on this "Pacific Dream" that's all about epic security, economic, and social vibes. It's, like, totally unprecedented and lit AF! We can totally flex on how we keep countries safe, help economies to level up, create mad new jobs, and vibe with partnerships for the future. And we can do it while em- powering people to make these choices for themselves” (Kerry 2013). Yasss, we can totally slay this and let people do their own thing! Sec Kerry was like, "Yo, it's mad important to have marketplaces that are fair, you know? Like, they gotta be open, transparent, and accountable and stuff." And he was all about the TPP too, you feel me?

ASEAN Centrality and the ASEAN-US Economic Relationship, y'all

While the Asia-Pacific economic community remains a flexin' centerpiece of America's Pacific Dream, US tactics have totally changed, fam. They now flex a lit, high-quality trade agreement that the United States hopes to expand thru the region and eventually beyond, fam. As Secre- tary Kerry like, ASEAN and its member states gotta be on board for this project to werk. To get them to join in, the vibe is all about having a tight Asia-Pacific economic squad as a major part of America's 'Pacific Dream'. OMG the US gotta make sure Southeast Asia knows that the TPP ain't no threat to ASEAN's vibe, ya know? They can show they're serious by getting all the ASEAN economies involved and giving mad support to ASEAN as a whole. No cap! From the viewpoint of trade policy, this means, first, a lit strat to help prep all of the region's economies for participating successfully in high-quality international linkages. The E3 initiative, ya know? It's like super lit and all that. Although not an FTA per se, the BTA did lowkey address key issues that improved access to US markets and helped Vietnam prep for accession to the WTO.21 Thruout, the US provided tech assistance thru the "Support for Trade Acceleration" (STAR) project. The results are straight fire, fam: Vietnam was like, super poor in the 90s, but by 2012, it was all middle-income status and stuff. Trade to GDP is like 155 percent, which is only second to Singapore in ASEAN. And the United States is like Vietnam's second most important export market, you know?